Soham

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So'ham ( skt . सोऽहम् so'ham "he is me") is a Hindu mantra that is mentioned in several Upanishads . It also plays a role in yoga and tantra . So'ham consists of the two Sanskrit pronouns सः saḥ “he” and अहम् aham “I”, which in Sandhi takes the form so'ham . The meaning is "He is I" or "I am He" and thereby symbolizes the unity of the individual soul (jiva) with the absolute .

interpretation

The mystical interpretation says that every living being recites this Ajapa mantra involuntarily through breathing , where sa stands for inhalation and ham for exhalation. The reverse word order results in the Sanskrit word hamsa »goose, swan«, which in Hindu symbolism symbolizes the self and also stands for the breath of life, prana . This is how the Dhyanabindu Upanishad, which also deals with the sacred syllable Om , explains : »The soul (jiva) emerges with the syllable ha and enters with the syllable sa . So it is said that she utters the mantra hamsa constantly . "

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ BKS Iyengar: Light on Yoga . HarperCollins, New Delhi 2003 (26th ed.). (p. 44)
  2. ↑ Dhyanabindu Upanishad 61.

literature

Wilfried Huchzermeyer : The Yoga Lexicon . edition sawitri, Karlsruhe, 2009. ISBN 978-3-931172-28-2